A recent survey reveals a growing number of Americans who support using force to reinstate former President Trump in the White House.
The report, named “Dangers to Democracy,” was released by the Chicago Project on Security Threats (CPST) earlier this month. It shows that from April 6 to June 26, 7 percent of Americans agreed that “the use of force is justified to restore Donald Trump to the presidency.”
According to the survey conducted by CPST and NORC, this is an increase from 4.5 percent, equivalent to an estimated shift from 12 million to 18 million American adults. This is the first increase in support since April of the previous year.
The rise in support “likely reflects the response of more intense commitment to Trump following the announcement of the federal indictment against him for mishandling classified documents on June 9, 2023 — about two and a half weeks before our June 26, 2023 survey,” stated the poll.
Trump was charged by the Justice Department with 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, one count of making false statements, and four other offenses related to concealment. The maximum sentence for the obstruction charge alone is 20 years. On June 13, the former president pleaded not guilty.
This is Trump’s second indictment and his first federal one, following his decision to run for president in 2024. He was previously charged in April by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels; he also pleaded not guilty in that case.
Earlier this month, the former president predicted that he would face a second federal indictment related to his involvement in the events of January 6, 2021, when a violent mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the election results.
Trump has often been accused of inciting the attack, as he rallied his supporters on that day and urged them to march to the Capitol after his loss to President Biden. Concerns have been raised that the 2024 election will also be marked by violence due to the events of January 6 and Trump’s ongoing refusal to accept the fairness of the 2020 election.
Additional findings from the survey include around 40 percent of Americans expressing deep distrust in American democratic institutions and 20 percent of Americans believing in anti-democratic political conspiracy theories about the governance of the country.
The survey, conducted between June 22-26, used a random sample of 3,543 individuals with a margin of error of 2.30 percent.